Garment hanger



April 25, 1967 c. E. GLISSON ETAL 3,315,854

GARMENT HANGER Filed Oct. 14, 1965 INVENTORS CL v05 E. 6!. I350 HUGHK/UG ZOIWJM ATTORNEY Clyde E. Glisson, Starkville,

United States Patent C) 3,315,854 GARMENT HANGER and Hugh King, Corinth,Miss., assiguors to Garan Incorporated, New York, N.Y., a corporation ofVirginia Filed Oct. 14, 1965, Ser. No. 495,829 6 Claims. (Cl. 223-94)The present invention relates to a clothes hanger, and in particular toone which greatly facilitates the placing of a garment thereon and theremoval of a garment therefrom, while at the same time providingeffective support of the garment hung thereon.

While the present invention is of general applicability in the hangerfield, it is particularly advantageous when used in connection withmanufacturing or retailing operations, where large numbers of garmentsmust be handled rapidly and effectively, and particularly where suchgarments must be placed on and removed from the hangers in as rapid amanner as possible. For example, one step in the manufacture of certaintypes of sport shirts is to convey the shirts through an oven where abaking or curing operation is carried out. The garments must be properlysupported as they pass through the oven, and to this end are mounted onindividual hangers, but they must be removed from the hangers at the endof the oven'heating step. Labor costs involved in placing the garmentson the hangers and then removing them from the hangers constitute amajor item of expense, and to maximize the ease and speed with which thegarments may be placed on the hangers and removed therefrom constitutesan important factor in lowering expense.

It is the prime object of the present invention to devise a hangerconstruction which will not only support garments such as sport shirtsin proper position, even as to the collar thereof, but which will alsogreatly facilitate the placing of garments on the hanger and the removalof garments therefrom. It is a further object of the present inventionto devise a hanger construction which, while accomplishing the aboveobjectives, will also be capable of withstanding being passed through acuring oven a multiplicity of times without deterioration.

The above objectives are accomplished by forming the hanger with asupport having a pair of fixed members extending therefrom in oppositedirections and preferably in a slightly downwardly inclined orientation.Articulately mounted on the support below these fixed members are a pairof arms which are movable essentially in a vertical direction between anupper or first position in which each of the arms extends out in thesame direction as the fixed members, the arms then being in engagementwith the fixed members, and a lower or second position in which the armsare oriented downwardly and therefore are not spread out as far as whenthey are in their first position. A spring or other resilient means isactive on the arms to urge them to their first position, the fixedmembers constituting positive stops active in opposition to theresilient means so as to fix or determine said first position of saidarms. A suspending hook is attached to the support, thereby to permitthe hanger to be removably mounted on any appropriate element, such as aportion of a conveyor chain which passes through a curing oven. The hookhas a portion extending above the support substantially verticallyrelative thereto and close to one side edge thereof, which hook portionserves as a guide or prop for the collar of the garment mounted on thehanger, ensuring that said collar of the garment mounted on the hanger,ensuring that said collar will be held in proper upright position. It ispreferred that the arms be pivotally mounted on the support, and thatportion of the supporting hook which serves to connect the hook to thesupport also serves as ice the common pivotal axis for the arms. Thespring may be mounted on this part of the suspending hook, thus makingfor a compact and simple construction in which the operative parts arewell housed, so that the possibility of damage to the garment isvirtually eliminated.

To the accomplishment of the above, and to such other objects as mayhereinafter appear, the present invention relates to the construction ofa clothes hanger as defined in the appended claims and as described inthis specification, taken together with the accompanying drawings inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a three-quarter perspective view of a preferred embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view on an enlarged scale taken along theline 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view taken along the line 33 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view taken along the line 4-4 of FIG. 2.

The hanger comprises a support generally designated 2 comprising members4 and 6 extending out in diametrically opposite directions from acentral portion 8 and preferably also being slightly downwardlyinclined, these members 4 and 6 comprising top wall portions 4:: and 6a,side wall portions 4b and 6b and end wall portions 40 and 60respectively, thereby defining a hollow upstanding housing structure.Depending from the central portion 8 are a pair of laterally spaced ears10 provided with registering apertures 12.

A pair of garment-supporting arms 14 and 16 are employed, bothchannel-shaped in cross section and comprising top walls 14a and 16a andlaterally spaced side walls 14b and 1612 respectively. The side walls14b and 16b of the arms 14 and 16 are distorted at their inner ends 14band 16b (see particularly FIG. 3), so that those inner end portions cantelescope, and the side walls 14b and 1612' are provided with apertures20 and 22 respectively which register with the apertures 12 in thesupport cars It).

The hanger further comprises a suspending hook generally designated 24,that hook being preferably formed in one piece and comprising ahorizontal shaft portion 26, a reversely bent portion 23, a short upperhorizontal section 3%, and then an upwardly extending and downwardlycurved hook portion 32. The portion 26 is adapted to pass through theregistering apertures 12, 2t) and 22 and thus define the axis aboutwhich the arms 14 and 16 can pivot, the portion 26 being provided withan enlargement or brazed portion 3 (see FIGS. 3 and 4) to limit thedegree-to which the portion 26 can enter the space between the cars 10.The outer end of the hook portion 26 is headed over or brazed, at 36, inorder to fix it in position. When thus fixed in position, and 'as mayclearly be seen from FIG. 4, the hook portion 32 extends above thesupport 2 in a substantially vertical direction and close to one sideedge (the right-hand side edge as viewed in FIG. 4) of the support 2,this by virtue of the fact that the hook portion 26 is longer than thehook portion 30 by a distance substantially equal to the depth of thesupport 2.

A resilient means 38 is active on the arms 14 and 16 so as to cause themto pivot upwardly about the axis defined by the hook portion 26. As heredisclosed the resilient means 38 comprises a coil spring looselyreceived over the hook portion 26 between the arm wall portions 14b and16b, said spring being provided with fingers 40 and 42 which engage theundersurfaces of the arm top Walls weight metal.

14a and 16a respectively, thereby to urge the arms upwardly intoengagement with the fixed members 4 and 6 on the support 2.

All of the parts of the hanger may be formed of light The support 2 andthe arms 14 and 16 may readily be cut and shaped from sheet stock onreadily available machinery, and the suspending hook 24 may readily beformed in comparable fashion from wire stock. The channel constructionof the arms 14 and 16 provides maximum strength while at the same timemaking for minimum weight. The same is true with regard to the support 2which, because of its height, helps support the collars of shirts whensuch garments are mounted on the hanger. Additional support for shirtcollars or the like is provided by the location and orientation of thehook portion 32. Use of metal such as steel for the hanger constructionis preferred when the hanger is to be used to convey garments throughovens, because that metal has 'a high degree of heat resistance and willalso cool rapidly after it has emerged from the oven. Plating of theexposed metal surfaces is desirable in order to prevent the formation ofrust, which would stain or discolor garments mounted on the hanger.

When a garment is to be placed on the hanger the 'arms 14 and 16 may bemanually pivoted downwardly against the action of the spring 38, and thehanger may then be inserted vertically upwardly through the open bottomof the garment, the laterally collapsed nature of the hangerfacilitating this operation. Thus the hanger is very well adapted to beused with garments such as sport shirts which cannot be unbuttoned downthe front, and even with garments such as ordinary shirts or coats undercircumstances where the unbuttoning and/ or buttoning of the garment inorder to place it on a hanger would be overly time-consuming. After thehanger has been inserted into the garment and the hook portion 32 isexposed through the top of the garment, the arms 14 and 16 are released,and the spring 38 moves them to their upper positions in engagement withthe fixed members 4 and 6 respectively. The orientation of the fixedmembers 4 and 6 corresponds to the desired shape of the supportedgarment, 'and'the force of the spring 33 is sufficient to withstand theweight of the garment. It is significant that no special manipulation onthe part of the operator is required in order to cause the arms 14 and16 to move to their upper positions; once one removes from the arms 14and 16 that external force which caused them to move downwardly, theyautomatically spring back to their upper garment-supporting position.

When a garment is to be removed from a hanger all that has to be done isto pull the garment downwardly. The arms 14 and 16 will pivot downwardlyagainst the action of the spring 38 until the garment has completelypassed thereover, after which they will spring back to their normalupper position.

Thus, it will be noted, with the hanger construction of the presentinvention garments may be virtually instantaneously removed from thehanger while the hanger remains suspended. Thus when a line of garmentsis conveyed through an oven, the garments may be removed from thehangers while the hangers are permitted to re main on the conveyor, andnew garments may likewise be placed on those hangers readily andexpeditiously without having to remove the hangers from the conveyor.The significant saving in manufacturing expense will be obvious.

While the invention has been here specifically disclosed in connectionwith its use in manufacturing operations, where the saving in time andmoney involved is economically quite significant, it will be appreciatedthat the hanger construction of the present invention could also be usedunder other circumstances, as in the home, where the added convenienceinvolved would be a major factor. It will further be appreciated thatwhile but a single preferred construction has been here specificallyillustrated, many variations can be made therein, all within the scopeof the instant invention as defined in the following claims.

We claim:

1. A clothes hanger comprising a support having a pair of fixed membersextending in opposite directions, a pair of arms pivotally mounted onsaid support beneath and movable upwardly into engagement with saidfixed members respectively, resilient means on said support and activeon said arms to urge them into engagement with said fixed membersrespectively, said fixed members thereby defining stops limiting themovement of said arms in upward directions, said arms being movable awayfrom said fixed members in opposition to the force exerted on said armsby said resilient means, and a suspending hook operatively connected toand extending from said support.

2. A clothes hanger comprising a support having a pair of fixed membersextending in opposite directions, a pair of arms pivotally mounted onsaid support beneath and movable upwardly into engagement with saidfixed members respectively, resilient means on said support and activeon said arms to urge them into engagement with said fixed membersrespectively, said fixed members thereby defining stops limiting themovement of said arms in upward directions, said arms being movable awayfrom said fixed members in opposition to the force exerted on said armsby said resilient means, and a suspending hook operatively connected toand extending from said support, a portion of said hook passing throughsaid support and said arms and defining the pivot axis for said armsrespectively.

3. A clothes hanger comprising a support having a pair of fixed membersextending in opposite directions, a pair of arms coaxially pivotallymounted on said support beneath and movable upwardly into engagementwith said fixed members respectively, resilient means on said supportand active on said arms to urge them with said fixed membersrespectively, said fixed members thereby defining stops limiting themovement of said arms in upward directions, said arms being movable awayfrom said fixed members in opposition to the force exerted on said armsby said resilient means, and a suspending hook operatively connected toand extending from said support, a portion of said hook passing throughsaid support and said arms and defining the axis about which said armspivot, said resilient means being mounted on said hook portion.

4. A clothes hanger comprising a support having a pair of fixed membersextending in opposite directions, a pair of arms movably mounted on saidsupport beneath and movable upwardly into engagement with said fixedmembers respectively, resilient means on said support and active on saidarms to urge them into engagement with said fixed members respectively,said fixed members respectively, said fixed members thereby definingstops limiting the movement of said arms in upward directions, said armsbeing movable away from said fixed members in opposition to the forceexerted on said arms by said resilient means, and a suspending hookoperatively connected to and extending from said support, said hookhaving a portion extending above said support which extendssubstantially vertically from said support close to one side edgethereof, thereby to define a guide for the collar of a garment hung onsaid hanger.

5. A clothes hanger comprising a support having a pair of fixed membersextending in opposite directions, a pair of arms pivotally mounted onsaid support beneath and movable upwardly into engagement with saidfixed members respectively, resilient means on said support and activeon said arms to urge them into engagement with said fixed membersrespectively, said fixed members thereby defining stops limiting theupward movement of said arms, said arms being movable away from saidfixed members in opposition to the force exerted on said arms by saidresilient means, and a suspending hook operatively connected to andextending from said support, a portion of said hook passing through saidsupport and said arms and defining the pivot axis for said armsrespectively,

said hook having a portion extending above said support which extendssubstantially vertically from said support close to one side edgethereof, thereby to define a guide for the collar of a garment hung onsaid hanger.

6. A clothes hanger comprising a support having a pair of fixed membersextending in opposite directions, a pair of arms coaxially pivotallymounted on said support beneath and movable into upward engagement withsaid fixed members respectively, resilient means on said support andactive on said arms to urge them into engagement with said fixed membersrespectively, said fixed members thereby defining stops limiting themovement of said arms in upward directions, said arms being movable awayfrom said fixed members in opposition to the force exerted on said armsby said resilient means, and a suspending hook operatively connected toand extending from said support, a portion of said hook passing throughsaid support and said arms and defining the axis about which said armspivot, said resilient means being mounted on said hook portion, saidhook having a portion extending above said support which extendssubstantially vertically from said support close to one side edgethereof, thereby to define a guide for the collar of a garment hung onsaid hanger.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 924,763 6/1909Grant 223-88 2,569,726 10/1951 McPherson 22394 2,605,942 8/1952 Warrenet a1. 223-89 2,872,090 2/1959 Goodman 223-94 FOREIGN PATENTS 250,6206/1948 Switzerland.

JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner.

GEORGE KRIZMANICH, Assistant Examiner.

1. A CLOTHES HANGER COMPRISING A SUPPORT HAVING A PAIR OF FIXED MEMBERSEXTENDING IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS, A PAIR OF ARMS PIVOTALLY MOUNTED ONSAID SUPPORT BENEATH AND MOVABLE UPWARDLY INTO ENGAGEMENT WITH SAIDFIXED MEMBERS RESPECTIVELY, RESILIENT MEANS ON SAID SUPPORT AND ACTIVEON SAID ARMS TO URGE THEM INTO ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID FIXED MEMBERSRESPECTIVELY, SAID FIXED MEMBERS THEREBY DEFINING STOPS LIMITING THEMOVEMENT OF SAID ARMS IN UPWARD DIRECTIONS, SAID ARMS BEING MOVABLE AWAYFROM SAID FIXED MEMBERS IN OPPOSITION TO THE FORCE EXERTED ON SAID ARMSBY SAID RESILIENT MEANS, AND A SUSPENDING HOOK OPERATIVELY CONNECTED TOAND EXTENDING FROM SAID SUPPORT.